Ecumenically, there is an increasing need for technological development about raw materials as petroleum alternative resources so as to cope with a continuous demand in basic petrochemical products such as light olefins and aromatics at high-oil price situation. Currently, at least 90% of aromatics based on the global demand have been produced through naphtha reforming processes of oil companies and naphtha cracking processes of petrochemical companies. Before 2005, efforts were concentrated in developing technologies, such as aromatic alkylation and transalkylation, capable of maximizing BTX (benzene, toluene, xylene) fractions among the existing aromatic products. On the other hand, since 2006, as the market environment of naphtha-based aromatic compound production changes, many studies have been conducted to develop novel and improved technologies for improving cost-efficiency.
However, it is expected that competitiveness derived from dependence on naphtha decreases, and thus aromatic production technology independent on naphtha may ensure competitiveness and easily enters the market. Therefore, advanced countries such as Europe, North America and Japan have conducted many studies to produce basic petrochemical products by utilizing petroleum alternative raw materials such as non-food biomass. Particularly, studies about bio-ethanol have been conducted most actively. Ethanol, which is a raw material that can be obtained easily from petroleum alternative resources, has been developed first among liquid biofuel and already used for transportation in Brazil or the like. Recently, active studies have been conducted for the production of ethanol from natural gas or non-food biomass. Under these circumstances, research and development on production technologies of basic chemicals based on ethanol has been conducted all over the world.
Meanwhile, among biomass resources, some studies have been conducted on the conversion of glycerol produced as a byproduct in a biodiesel production process into a high-added value compound. Particularly, most of such studies are for producing 1,2-propanediol, 1,3-propanediol, acrolein, etc., used as a solvent or basic chemical from glycerol. However, there are not many studies about production of aromatic compounds from glycerol. Recently, R. G. Mallinson, D. E. Resasco and coworkers of Oklahoma University (USA) have issued the results of their study about production of alkyl group-substituted aromatic compounds using zeolite (Energy & Fuels, 2010, Vol. 24, pp. 3804-3809). However, according to the results, it is reported that rapid deactivation of catalyst occurs to cause degradation of catalytic activity within a short time, and oxygen-containing compounds corresponding to intermediates are obtained with a higher yield as compared to aromatic compounds. As a result, there is a need for a means for increasing the yield of aromatic compounds.